Dan Appleman's Developing Activex Components With Visual Basic 5.0: A Guide to the Perplexed (Paperback)

by Daniel Appleman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Programming on the Internet is not a simple task, but, for precisely that reason, it is very lucrative. The main Internet programming languages are VisualBasic and Perl for managing the common gateway interface and Java for the interactive innovations of the future. ActiveX and JavaBeans are competing standards for developing extended reusable programming components that can help save time and money for designers working in all three languages. ActiveX is supported by Microsoft; JavaBeans is supported by everything else. There is currently no indication of what the winner will be, so users of advanced computing collections will be needing to check out all these titles.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
With the release of version 5, VB programmers can finally create ActiveX controls without resorting to C++. And when the manual can't help, turn to VB master Dan Appleman, who can. In this well-designed guide, you'll find a serious review of all the key technology-from beginning OLE fundamentals to the latest in ActiveX component, ActiveX control, and ActiveX document technology.Dan Appleman's Developing ActiveX Components with Visual Basic 5.0: A Guide to the Perplexed teaches you everything-from designing the object model to creating and testing your new components, to straightening out versioning problems and understanding container dependencies. Simply put this book is a best-of-class addition to any dynamic VB developer's library!Building on the Visual Basic documentation without trying to replace it, this book covers methods, properties, events, databinding, multithreading, Internet/intranet, licensing, and more.

• Cuts to the chase, covering the most essential problems
• Explores how to avoid common pitfalls
• CD-ROM includes sample source code from the book

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Product Details

• Paperback: 729 pages
• Publisher: Ziff-Davis Press (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562765108
• ISBN-13: 978-1562765101
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,315,564 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, May 13, 1999

By A Customer

Somehow Dan Appleman has managed to explain COM in a clear, consice way that doesn't require you to read it over and over again in order to understand it. After reading this you will have a thorough grounding which will enable you to develop ActiveX controls, but more importantly you will find yourself designing you applications in a more structured, efficient way.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for AcitveX developer-wannabees, January 27, 1998

By	Dan Ryan, [e-mail] (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This is a big book, but it's definitely worth slogging through. If you're new to ActiveX, you should go through the examples in the Components Tool Guide manual to learn the mechanics of creating a control. You can do that in a few hours. But to take the step from creating dummy controls to creating controls robust enough to use, you have to know what the heck you're doing. That's where this book comes in. Is it annoying that Appleman doesn't really get down to the nitty-gritty of controls until half-way through the book? Of course. But the first part of the book is really important. More important than the second half of the book, actually. It's in the first part where he tells you what ActiveX is really all about. Any bonehead can create an ActiveX control. But unless you follow Appleman's way of doing things, you're better off not writing an ActiveX control in the first place. That's because there's a lot of pitfalls you can encounter that will cause more lost time than any time you saved by having an ActiveX control. As an example, consider the compiling of an ActiveX component. The VB manual basically says "You know, it's kind of a good idea to have binary compatibility, but if you to break compatibility, that's ok." Appleman basically says "Don't break the compatibility unless you really know what you're doing, because you're going to really regret it". Appleman knows his stuff inside and out, and that allows him to have opinions, allows him to decide what to emphasize. The bottom line - if you're just starting out developing ActiveX controls, you're a damn fool if you don't buy this book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Average-to-Good book, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

Good presentation of complex topic. Good source for reference